Lunchbox Recipe - Chicken & fruit salad

RG's canteen is closed for renovations so I've been preparing his lunches since the beginning of the term.

As he doesn't have a readily accessible microwave available....his lunch menus consist mainly of sandwiches and salads that don't require any heating up. He also doesn't want any food that would sit too heavily in the stomach which could cause him to feel sleepy or lethargic.

It has been tough thinking up different sandwiches/salads to make so that he doesn't have to keep eating the same things for lunch. I have been googling the internet for lunchbox ideas and have found many interesting and inspiring ideas from the selfless bloggers out there who are so ready to share.

Hence, I would also like to do my part in contributing some of my lunchbox ideas.

Today's lunch menu is luncheon+egg rolls, chicken+fruit salad, corn chips, oatmeal cookies & a banana (with a hot flask of coffee).

I'd like to share my recipe for the chicken+fruit salad (feel free to substitute any ingredients with what you already have & proportions don't have to be exact):

- chopped celery
- chopped cucumber
- grapes (cut into smaller bite sizes or can leave as a whole)
- chopped apple
- corn (from a can)
- chopped chicken breast meat from rotisserie chicken (or make your own chicken breast meat)
- chopped walnuts (or pecans)
- raisins
- low fat mayo (add just enough to lightly coat all the ingredients)
- curry powder

Method: Mix everything together!

I made this salad last night and left it in the refrigerator to chill. Having the salad prepared ahead bought me more time to get the other stuffs ready early in the morning.

Jacket to vest transformation

I dragged this out from the bottom of my clothes box. It's an old blazer that I used to wear for work. It's still in very good condition....just a little creased! However, I have no need for work clothes now so it's pretty redundant. I have been wanting to buy one of those edgy fitted vest to wear over my tops.......so I thought why not convert this jacket into a vest??!!

First, I took out the sleeves. I wanted a "halter" look (kind of like the pink vest in the below photo) so I cut the new armholes slanting inwards towards the collar.

Here's how it looked....after I had cut off the sleeves.

It was quite tricky to sew around the new armholes so I ironed and tacked before using the sewing machine to run a straight stitch all around.

I also decided to change the neckline into something simpler. I cut off the whole collar and resew the neckline a little lower by removing the topmost button. As it was looking a tad boring being all black.....I added pokka dotted ruffles to the pockets. I might make a ruffle flower from the same pokka dot fabric to pin on the vest later on (or that might be too cheesy?). I had to do numerous fittings for this vest as I needed to take in some fabrics at various parts of the vest to make it a better fit.

It's more wearable now after the alterations and I'll probably pair it with some bright cheery color tops! If I'm not too lazy, I might continue to work on the bottom hem of the vest to give it more "curves" as the hem is currently straight and doesn't look as flattering.

Took me several hours over the past couple of days to do the alterations. Not the easiest refashioning project but it ain't rocket science either.....just required some patience, lots of pins and good'o tacking!!! I'm quite happy with my new vest....hope to wear it soon.

Care package from mom and dad!!!

The package finally arrived, several days late, despite my parents sending it using the super costly speedpost express service. The delay was probably due to the customs checks. All the items were intact apart from the pork floss which got confiscated at the US customs :( Nevertheless, I'm still glad that the US customs did not return the whole package back to my parents in Singapore! At least I still got my chinese zodiac/fengshui magazines, beancurd skins (with accompanying instructions on how to use it!), dried beancurd slices & the mee-sua.

These may seem like strange things to some of you.....but to me, they are precious!

Back in Singapore, at the start of every new year, I'd buy the chinese zodiac publications to read. It's not that I'm particularly superstitious or anything....I just enjoy reading the forecasts and it has become a habit and yearly ritual of mine. I also love reading up on fengshui stuffs! :P

And during Chinese New Years, my mom would usually make vegetarian beehoon with dried beancurd as well as ngor hiong. Since I wasn't able to go back to SG to celebrate CNY with my family......I thought it'd be nice if I could make some of my mom's favorite CNY dishes over here. That's where the beancurd items will come in very handy! I know CNY is long over.....but the food will definitely bring back fond memories.

As for the mee sua.......first of all, I love love love love eating it....especially this particular brand which is more gooey in texture. Second, mee sua just reminds me of birthdays and of my parents' love! We didn't have big parties with tall cakes on our birthdays.....but instead, my parents would make mee-sua and red eggs for us. I remember there was one time when I was having a cold war with my parents and we didn't speak for weeks. On the day of my birthday when I woke up at 6am to get ready for work......there was a bowl of mee sua on the breakfast table accompanied by 2 red eggs. I was so touched!

Thank you MOM & DAD for the priceless things that you've sent. I love you folks very much! :)

Scarf reconstruction.....

I have been doing a lot of clothing reconstructions lately.....mainly because I'm sorting and clearing my wardrobe....trying to decide what to throw, what to give away and what can be salvaged by some creative reconstructions.

Realised I've got too many black scarves (well....too MANY scarves period!) in my closet. I decided to convert this kinda worn out sad looking piece into a shrug that I can wear and cover my shoulders and arms properly. Scarves tend to fall all over the place.

This is gonna be another easy refashioning that requires very little effort and braincells. First, I trimmed off the tassles.

And then just fold the scarf breadth-wise in half and sew along the edges, leaving a gap in the middle for you to "wear" it. I just held the scarf up at arm's length to roughly estimate how much to sew. The key is not to over sew....if you've sewed too little, you can always sew some more. But if you've over sewed...then you'd have to unpick which is a darn chore and might cause puncture holes in your fabric!

Depending on the width of your scarf.....you might need to trim the fabric a little before sewing so as to taper the "sleeves". But if you like wide flowing sleeves.....then just leave it the way it is. I tapered mine a little 'cos the width of the sleeve was too big. Keep trying it on to see how it fits while you are sewing.....then you can alter the measurements along the way to achieve something that fits you perfectly.

Here's how it'd look......

Good for pairing with my sleeveless tops/dresses. I'm thinking of making a light-color one to slip on whenever I'm driving to protect my arms from the UV rays.

Bah Kut Teh....using the oven!

Yup....you read it right! I used the oven to cook a big pot of bah kut teh using the BKT spice pack that KJ had sent me all the way from Singapore.

I like using the oven 'cos it's so easy and convenient! No standing over the stove to ensure that nothing boils over.....or causing an oily mess all over the kitchen with all the splitter-splattering when cooking on the stovetop.

I could just pop stuffs into the oven and then go do what I have to do without having to keep checking on the food. Just like today, I left the BKT in the oven to cook for 2hrs while I went out to run some errands. When I came back....the pot of BKT was almost ready and smelling amazing!

With the spice pack....the BKT was a breeze to make. I used about 4 huge chunks of pork ribs (approx 1.6lbs), 5-6 cloves of garlic (smashed and skin-removed), 10 cups of water and 1 tablespoon of black soya sauce (the thick kind). I threw everything, including the spice pack, into my big cast iron pot and covered the pot with the cast iron lid. My oven was preheated to 300F (bake function). And I let the pot sit in the oven to cook for about 2hrs.

2hrs later.....the whole kitchen was smelling wickedly yummy! I don't really eat BKT a lot back in Singapore but I must say this BKT soup/ribs using the spice pack is darn tasty *slurp*

I find that soups that are cooked using this method taste very flavorful. It's almost like making soup using the slow double-boiling method. And 'cos I use a cast iron pot with a very heavy lid....the liquids don't reduce too much, too fast. You'll end up with a good amount of soup but still with good strong flavors. Do try it one of these days and let me know what you think!

Refashion an old cardigan in 5 minutes....

I love this old cardigan that I bought in Tokyo many years ago. It's quite long (hip length) and the lower back part is getting worn out as I always sat on it and friction had caused fabric pilling.

Reluctant to just throw it away (& too worn out to donate to a charitable organisation)....I decided to turn it into a shorter shrug by trimming off the worn out part.

I removed the buttons and kept them for a later project. The way the cardigan was originally sewn gave it a natural tubing which I used to thread a ribbon through. The pink dotted lines in the second photo below show how the ribbon was threaded.I didn't bother to hem the cut part for an unconstructed look (ok, I'm lying, I'm just too laaaaazzzy!). But because it's a stretchy t-shirt material....the ends tend to curl up which looks kinda nice too and the fabric doesn't fray....so not hemming is totally acceptable :P

So here's how the refashioned cardigan looks on me. I'm not crazy about the pink pokka dot ribbon but it's the only thing I've got at home......might swop it for a thicker black satin ribbon later.

Yeay......a new shrug for spring!

Oven baked crispy pork chops

Another of my super easy/lazy recipes:

- bone-in pork chops (about 1/2" thick) - boneless chops are fine too
- 1/2 tbsp of dijon mustard
- 1/2 tbsp of mayo
- salt/pepper
- panko crumbs
-*cayenne pepper/curry/cumin powder/garlic powder/onion powder (just add whatever you like to flavor the chops to your own special taste!)

Season the chops with salt/pepper a couple of hours before cooking.
Preheat the oven to 425F (baking function) just before cooking.
Spread the panko crumbs on a plate. Mix all the different spices* to the panko crumbs.
Mix the dijon mustard and mayo together in a small dish.
Lay the chops on a plate and lightly brush the mustard/mayo mix onto both sides of the chops (do not overdo it or you'd add up with mushy top crusts).
Place the chops, a piece at a time, onto the panko crumbs to coat the chops.
Place the chops on an aluminium baking sheet and pop it into the oven to bake for 25-30min.

It's so simple to make.....and you'll get a healthier version of pork chops without the oil if you were to deep-fry them instead. The chops are usually pretty lean or you could just trim off all the fatty bits before cooking them. It makes me feel so much less guilty about eating meats that are cooked this way....and they taste almost as good as the deep-fried ones.